Every Star Softly Burning
by BombshellBattalion
Summary: Save the Galaxy Become a Team Transport a World Destroying Deity (In Progress) Fall in Love with Said Deity. (What?) They never said this was going to be easy.
1. complimentary messes

It had been several cycles since they had become a team, saved the galaxy, and were no longer wanted criminals.

Despite all of the events that had occurred, they were still trying to get used to each other.

"-I think I would know whether or not I built a _bomb_ , Quill."

"Rocket, it is _literally_ counting down to 'self-destruct! Can we please get it off of the ship?"

"The count downs for when the toast is ready to go in again!"

"Rocket! It says, 'self-destruct', as in _self-destruct_!"

"Stop being such a cry baby, Quill-"

"-I thought Peter was a fully grown Terran?"

"-You wanted toast, and now that you're getting it you're all like, 'No, Rocket, I wanted toast, not imminent death,' Like, come on man, you know you're going to have one with the other"

"I am Groot."

"' _Imminent Death_ '?! So, it is going to blow up?"

Gamora sighed from her position at the 'Team Table', as Peter had named it, as she watched her so-called team bicker over the contraption that Rocket had presented. Peter and Rocket had been arguing for over half an hour now (Peter was teaching them Terran time scales), and quite frankly she was getting sick of it.

It had been a peaceful start to the day, as Peter had been introducing them Terran time, he had slowly converted them to his own sleeping patterns so they were all awake and asleep at similar times, despite the struggle in the beginning (Gamora didn't actually require nearly as much sleep as Peter or Rocket did), she was beginning to find it helped them to develop a clear schedule for each day, allowing them to share meals together and managed business in an organised manner. This day start had begun in the usual manner for Gamora, she had woken before Peter but after Drax, she then sparred with the green skinned male for a short while before showering (making sure to get in be Peter, who was a very messy person), she then dressed for the day and entered the 'Chill Room', to which she found the current predicament.

"Well, maybe not _imminent death_ , a bit of harmful maiming at worst... probably."

The previous night, Rocket had found a small silver box, which Peter had claimed was a toaster, he had explained that it had broken a while ago, but hadn't had the heart to throw it out ("Does the box require a sacrifice?"). Unfortunately, Rocket took that as a request for him to fix the devices, claiming that he would make it the 'best damn toaster in the galaxy'.

"Oh, wow, thanks Rocket, we won't die, we'll just probably lose a few limbs!"

Rocket had entered in the morning, claiming he had made improvements to the toaster, including a deadly laser and other weapons. Understandably, Peter was sceptical of the device, and when he placed his two pieces of bread into toaster, they had burnt within seconds, spat across the room, and then exploded.

Then the machine started to count down.

To self-destruct.

"Well, you don't really need _both_ of your arms!"

" _Sixty clicks until self-destruct_."

"Rocket! _Please_!"

"We don't know if it's actually going to explode! I think we should just wait and see."

Gamora closed her eyes for a few moments, praying that someone would come to their senses so that they could actually eat their breakfast soon, she was really looking forward to the NovaPops they had picked up on Xandar on their last visit.

Looking up, she made eye contact with Baby Groot, the small tree being watching Rocket and Peter shout at one another with wide eyes, Groot gave her a small nod, and with a sigh, she stood, picked the toaster up, exited the ship, and kicked the damned toaster as far as she could.

The rest of her team followed her out, and together, as they stood on Gloth, a moon orbiting the trade planet Vuonos, the watched as the small metal object travelled further from them. As it crashed on the ground, the Guardians collectedly hold their breaths to see if it does explode.

"See! I told you it was fine, and now Gamora's just gone and thrown out a perfectly fine toast-"

Rocket is cut off by the gigantic explosion from the toaster.

"I am Groot."

"Yeah, breakfast it is."

* * *

They're still getting used to one another, interacting, and being in each other's spaces, it's a slow process but they're learning each other's ticks and triggers, like making sure Drax knows when you've entered the room, or the fact that Rocket likes to be petted on his head but not on his back. Peter isn't quite used to sharing yet, but he's getting better at it, and Gamora is learning it's okay to express her emotions around her friends. Groot doesn't have any 'pet peeves' (as Peter calls them), but they take the time to figure out his language because they know that Rocket can't be expected to translate all the time.

They figure out that they naturally turn to Peter as their leader, after a few almost failed missions where they each tried to lead, which ended in too many close calls and miscommunication. They find themselves falling into a natural order when on missions or in professional circumstances, the struggle if finding the order in their down time.

Because they may have saved the galaxy.  
And they may be become friends and a team.  
But, truthfully, they were still strangers.

* * *

"We should go out today." Gamora announced as she entered the cockpit of the ship.

"What do you mean?" Peter asked, turning towards her.

"We should go and have a day off and start to understand one another." Gamora spoke, she couldn't help but keep herself tense, something she had been taught as a child because weakness was not tolerated with Thanos, and it was punished.

Peter looked at his teammates for a few moments before he came to a conclusion, "Alright, sweet, team bonding, this is going to be exciting." The Terran man clapped his hands with a smile growing on his face, "Where should we go? Anyone want to go somewhere specific?"

"My daughter always wanted to see the gardens of Poeter," Drax spoke with fondness, "She claimed that they were the most beautiful gardens in all of the galaxy."

"I am Groot."

"Okay, I'm in too." Rocket spoke as he and Groot made their way to their shared seat.

"That okay with you, Gamora?" Peter asked her.

With a smile and a nod, the Guardians were off.

* * *

 _ **The Gardens of Poeter**_  
 **POETER**  
 **ANDROMEDA**

The gardens were indeed the most beautiful thing that Gamora had seen.

Various flowers, plants, and crystals grew everywhere, including on the glass ceiling of the planet. The whole landscape was covered in multiple colours, with varying degrees of sparkle and glitter.

It was truly breath-taking.

"I am glad that I am able to experience this with you, my friends, I believe that Kamaria would have truly loved this place." Drax told them as the strolled down the path looking at the Yamian crystals.

"I, too am glad that we are experiencing this together," Gamora admitted with a soft smile on her face. She had never been allowed to do this sort of thing under the control of neither Thanos nor Ronan, but she was finding that she enjoyed it immensely.

"So, there's like stuff from almost every planet in this garden?" Peter questioned.

"Yeah, they sent scouts out every few years to pick up samples so that they can catalogue everything." Rocket replied, as he picked Groot from the floor and placed the small creature on his shoulder. "We've got to keep an eye on Groot to make sure that they don't try and take him."

"Is there any Earth, err, Terran plants?"

"I am Groot."

"Groot says that's there's an information stop at the end of this section." Rocket translates.

"Do you miss you home planet?" Gamora asks Peter, turning to look at him.

"Sorta," Peter scratches the back of his head. "I mean, I think I miss the idea of it, and I know it's probably changed a lot since I was there. I don't think I miss it, it's more I miss the idea of home, ya know?"

"I understand," Drax tells them from the front of the group, "I too have similar feelings towards my own home. I understand that my family is gone, and that things have changed, so I do not feel that I miss it, more I miss what it was."

"Exactly," Peter says, "What about you guys?"

"Nah, I don't remember most of it, and the parts I do remember are kinda shitty." Rocket says flippantly, not wanting to focus on the negatives of his existence.

"I am Groot," Groot speaks.

"Groot says that he gets home sick, but he's happy here with us, so it's not too bad anymore." Rocket smiles at Groot on his shoulder.

"I do not remember my birth home, all I know is Thanos, so I can't say that I miss it, but sometimes I miss the good parts," Gamora speaks softly, "I know that Thanos was terrible, but he was still my father, and occasionally he was kind and nurturing, and I miss that, back when I got on with my siblings."

"Hey," Peter approaches her and places a hand on her shoulder, "It's okay, he was all you knew, and it's understandable that you grew attached to it, as long as you get that he was bad, then we know that you're probably only going to _gently_ stab us."

The group laugh as Gamora gently shoves Peter away from her.

This feels good, thinks Gamora, it feels like belonging. It feels like a _family_.

And that's when the first explosion hits.


	2. the world's a beast of a burden

Being the idiots that they were, their first reactions were to run towards the source of the explosions.

"Why can't we just have one day off?" Peter muttered as he leads the group, "Just for a couple of hours, why can't someone else save the galaxy for once?"

Gamora smirks as she pulls a dagger from its hold, she sees as Drax does the same, and Rocket begins to assemble a small blaster as he runs.

"Perhaps it was merely a malfunction," Gamora tells Peter as she catches up to run alongside him. She has to stay mindful that Peter is rather slow.

"We don't have that kind of luck."

* * *

They arrive at the site of the explosions a short while after, people are being pulled out of rubble and checked over by others, Peter begins to tell his team to go and help with the effort when he notices several armed beings surrounding a woman who is stood with her hands in the air and a smirk on her face.

"I kinda don't want go and get involved with this, I mean it looks like they're got everything handled-"

-"Peter."

"-Fine, come on guys," Peter sighs as he leads the team towards the person who looks like they're in charge. "Err, hello?"

The tall pink skinned being turned to Peter with an unimpressed expression on his face, "Yes?"

"Do, err, do you guys need any help?" Peter tried to stand casually, attempting to appear a bit like he was in charge and knew what he was doing.

"And, who are you?" The being says, it's red eyes squinting from under its gold helmet.

"We're, um, the, well, you might have heard of us, they're - I mean, we're calling ourselves the quote-unquote Guardians of the Galaxy." Peter explained, bouncing lightly on his feet as he looked up at the slightly taller being in gold armour.

The being's eyes rose in surprise, looking as though he might recognise the group as he quickly surveyed the rest of the group, gulping as he caught Gamora's gaze. "You're the ones who defeated Ronan the Accuser?"

Gamora steps forward, making sure that the being can see her sword, "Yes. Now do you require our help or not?"

The being steps back a small bit, before saying, "One moment, please," as it hurries off to speak to a large robotic life form who is standing beside their vessel. The two speak in a different dialect for a short while, occasionally glancing at the Guardians and at the woman who is now in restraints but still carries a smirk on her face.

"This is going to take forever," Rocket complains as he takes a seat on a stray rock that had been blown up in the explosions, he begins to play with his gun as he watches Groot climb from his shoulder and begins to look at the plants that had survived the blasts.

Gamora doesn't stand down, as her team does, her years of training have taught her that she should not let her guard down until she is certain that she knows what is going on and whether it is a threat to her being. She stares at the woman who is restrained in the centre of the guards, her skin is a soft lilac colour, she has the basic humanoid structure to her being, with dark eyes which seem void of anything, she has white markings on her face and Gamora assumes that they mark the rest of her body as they trail down her neck. Her hair is dark silver and it shines in the light. For some reason, Gamora fills with an odd sense of dread as she looks at the woman, it intensifies when the woman locks her eyes onto Gamora's.

The being returns to the Guardians, giving Gamora an excuse to look away from the unsettling woman. "My name is Hango-Limn, and I am a commander hailing from the planet, Sakaar. We have been tracking this individual for many cycles now, and we have finally apprehended her." The being explains, standing tall now that they have a clear plan in their head. "We would appreciate it greatly if you would be able to aid us in the transportation of the criminal to our home planet. As you can see, she managed to destroy our ship in the process of her arrest. But due to the danger that she holds, we must get to Sakaar as soon as possible, as I fear that she will break out of the restraints and continue her path of destruction. Will you help us?"

Peter turns to look at his team, Rocket shrugs his shoulders while Drax and Gamora nod their heads at their leader. "Alright, I guess." Peter nods at the commander, "Where's Sakaar?"

"Fornax, Tayo," Gamora tells him.

Peter's eyes widen, "Oh, geeze, that's quite a bit away."

"I apologise, Guardians, but it is very important that we transport her as soon as possible." The commander tells Peter.

"Fine," Peter shakes his head, "Anything we need to desperately know?"

"Aren't you curious about her?" The commander questions.

"Nah, the less we know the better," Peter smirks, "Codes of conduct for interstellar business."

"Very well," the being nods, "You must not, under any circumstances, allow her to take off her restraints as they contain her powers and abilities. I will provide you with her file, in the event that you do become curious."

"'Kay, well, we'll go and get our ship, and then we'll head out." Peter tells the being.

"Thank you, Guardians, you will be rewarded handsomely upon the delivery of the criminal at Crown City, in Sakaar."

* * *

"This does not seem to be a good idea," Drax speaks as they board the Milano.

"Come on, guys," Peter attempts to lighten the mood, "If everything goes according to plan, we get the girl, drop her off, get paid, and then we'll go somewhere nice for a non-explosive vacation; it's be fine."

"You've just doomed us all, Quill."

"Shut up, Rocket."

* * *

The land the Milano besides the crashed ship of the Sakaarans, as they disembark, Gamora notices how none of the _armed_ guards are even daring to stand too close to the prisoner. This does not sit well with her.

"Alright, we'll load her into the cargo bay," Peter announces, "Do you guys happen to have a cell that we can borrow?"

"Arch-B-4783, help the Guardians moving the criminal," The commander tells the robotic creature.

The robot nods and enters the Sakaaran ship, it re-emerges with a large glass box with a few circular holes scattered on it, the robot places the container in the Milano's cargo bay, and then moves to collect the woman.

"The box should contain her until you reach Sakaar," The commander explains, "There are air holes in it, and you'll find a small latch at the base where you can deposit food and water when the prisoner needs it."

Arch-B-4783 marches the prisoner past the Guardians, they all follow her as she enters the ship, a small sense of unease falls upon them.

"Thank you, Guardians," The commander smiles.

"No problem, what could go wrong?" Peter laughs.

"Oh, for fucks sake Peter!"


	3. does your heartbeat feel like a lie

Gamora was already beginning to regret agreeing to this mission. Before they had left, the Sakaaran's had told them that using the wormhole system may allow the prisoner to somehow escape her bonds. Something that no one wanted. This meant that it would take a good while to travel all the way to Sakaar.

Gamora hoped that the payment for this mission would be large. But for now, she would have to deal with the idiots she calls teammates.

"I am Groot."

"Hey, watching your fucking language!"

* * *

Gamora sat with Peter in the bridge of the ship, she sat casually in her chair; legs dangling over the arm while she sharpened her daggers. Peter's music fills the room, and she finds herself beginning to hum slightly to the tunes, purposely ignoring the smirk on Peter's face. They both know that she's allowing him to witness it.

"Why knives?" Asks Peter as he turns to her.

"What?" Gamora replies, defensiveness in her tone.

"Not that there's anything bad with them-" Peter rambles, "It's just you use them a lot, they're like really cool and everything, don't get me wrong - you're awesome with them, but you only really seem to use them. Of course, you use blasters sometimes -"

"They are..." Gamora begins, she struggles to find the correct word for a moment before settling on, "sentimental."

"Oh, fair," Peter says.

Picking up on Peter's uncertainty as to where the conversation was heading, Gamora decided to change the subject. "What do you know about Sakaar? I recognise the name, but can't seem to remember anything important about the actual place."

"I think its bit of a scrapping planet," Peter shrugs, "I'm pretty sure we used to stop there sometimes, but Yondu would never let me come down to the planet with him - I think he said something about the timezone of the planet being off?"

Accepting his answer, Gamora nods and the two friends return to a comfortable silence as they watch the galaxy move around them.

* * *

After eating, Gamora finds herself in one of the back rooms with Drax. They do this often, sparing with each other; they each have different styles of fighting but Gamora has to accept that Drax is the only one the ship who is even remotely close to her own ability.

Growing up, all she really knew was violence, fighting for strength, and for survival. It was how she 'bonded' with her siblings, Thanos taught them to think through their anger and confusion, be tactful, smart, and fast.

She finds solace in her training, it's predictable and it's what she knows best. She even finds that she enjoys the challenge of fighting Drax. Where she had been taught restraint, to rely on her head rather than her heart - Drax fought with his whole being, he was passionate in his movement, it was the only time that Gamora could see the fire that truly resided behind his eyes. Their styles were so different that it was sometimes challenging to predict the others moves.

Drax had explained once, that he came from a warrior people. Where you fought only for reason, whether it be love, hate or honour. It was then that Gamora grew envious of Drax, he fought because he wanted to, she fought because she had to. You either kill or you get killed.

Gamora is quick to dodge the fist flying at her face, offering a couple of quick jabs to the stomach before retreating slightly. She smirks at the quick intake of breath from Drax, as he attempts to hide his pain.

"You are acting different today," Drax states plainly, as he mirrors her movements.

"How so?" She raises a brow.

"You are distracted," he dodges a foot to the face, grabbing her leg and throwing her a little distance away from himself, "You should have deflected my fist before it had gotten so close."

Gamora levels herself for a moment, strategising whilst also thinking on a response.

"I have hit you three times so far, when usually at this time in our fight I would have only hit you once." Drax holds his hand up to signal a pause and grabs his canister to take a couple of gulps of water.

Relaxing, Gamora sits on the crate that her own water sits, sipping lightly before speaking, "May I ask you a question?"

"You just did."

Ignoring him Gamora continues, "What was she like? Your daughter?"

Drax pauses his sip and slowly places his canister down. A forlorn expression settles on his face. "She was..." Drax struggles to find the correct words to say, "She was small for her age, but that did not stop her. She was fast, faster than the other children in our village - it was because she was so small, I was afraid at first that her size would hinder her survival. It is important to be big and strong in my culture, but I found that what others may see as a weakness, she saw as a strength." Drax gives her a bittersweet smile, "She became my reason to exist in the short time that she was here and she is still the reason why I continue."

Gamora ignores the way that her eyes sting with unshed tears, she clears her throat. "Shall we continue?"

* * *

Gamora watches Rocket as he eats.

He's in pain; if the slight grimace on his face that appears when he moved his right arm is anything to go by. He's subtle in the way that he rolls his shoulder to attempt to dislodge the pain but his dominant arm is his right, and Rocket knows that Gamora knows so he's trying to not be too obvious with the pain.

Groot is better at pretending that everything is fine. Although, Gamora does notice the vine sneaking out of his pot and up to the shoulder.

Finally, after the ninth wince that leaves Rocket's mouth, does Gamora finally snap and ask, "Would you like me to look at your shoulder?"

Immediately, Rocket's hackles begin to raise and a defensive expression takes over his face. "No," he says, "I'm fine."

Gamora raises an eyebrow, "I know that you are uncomfortable with touching, but I used to do this for Nebula when we were growing up, and I think that you two may have similar problems." She pauses, "I promise I'll stop if you ask me."

After a few seconds, Rocket's ears begin to droop and he appears to have a no verbal conversation with Groot. Finally, he responds, "Fine, but quickly - and don't tell Quill; I know he's been dying to pet me since we first met."

* * *

In order to get to Sakaar as soon as possible, they have to continuously travel. Meaning, despite having a working auto-pilot, it's safer to have someone on the flight deck at all times just in case something that the auto-pilot can't handle appears.

("He just likes to sneak up on me sometimes," Peter glares, "That sneaky, blue, bastard.")

It's currently Gamora's shift, having forced Peter to actually go to sleep a few hours previously, and she's once again draped herself across the main piloting chair. She found an old gossip magazine about some boyband from Dakkam in Peter's draws a couple of weeks ago, and she likes to read it during her night shifts, the menial subjects amuse her, and allows her to image herself reading something like this in her younger years if she had been given the chance.

Just as she feels herself beginning to get tired, Rocket carrying Groot appears by her leg, nudging it off of the arm. "Tag." Rocket says, all but pushing her from the seat.

Gamora smiles as she stretches, letting him get comfortable, "How's your arm?"

"Better," Rocket settles Groot into a better position, "Thanks for that."

"It's not a problem," Gamora starts to head down the stairs. "I'm happy to help."

Just as she's about to reach the bottom, Rocket calls out, "Hey, Gamora?"

"Yes?"

"Could you feed the prisoner?"

Gamora throws her head back and lets out an audible groan.

"Thanks, Gamora!"

* * *

Gamora can see her breath as she steps into the cargo bay. She looks to the control panel next to the door to see that the heaters are in fact on and that the cold air and what looks like fog, is, in fact, coming from the ominous prisoner, who was conveniently placed under the only broken light on the ship. So, Gamora jumps, just a little, when the door slides shut behind her, then who can really blame her?

As she approaches the large cell in the centre of the room, she can visibly see the tray of food she's carrying cool and rot at an unnatural pace.

Against all of her instincts, Gamora opens the small slot at the bottom of the cell and slides the tray in, slamming the slot shut again and backing up a few steps she watches with bated breath as a hand slides out of cloaked darkness and slowly drags the tray backwards until they both disappear.

When nothing else happens, Gamora lets her shoulders drop slightly and just as she begins to turn, a distorted voice omits from the darkness.

"Daughter of Thanos," it chuckles, "Oh, how the mighty fall."

Gamora freezes. She curses herself as she finds herself taking the obvious bait by turning back to the cell. "I am no longer a child of Thanos." She says in an icy tone.

The voice seems to echo through the room as it lets out a mocking laugh, "No, not by name, but nature is harder to change."

The prisoner emerges from the darkness, stepping into the little light that actually reaches her cell. A sick smirk on her face and black eyes locked on to Gamora's.

"And what nature is that?" Gamora steps closer, a sneer on her lips.

The prisoner places a hand on the glass, white symbols cut through the purple of her skin. "Oh, my darling, I can smell the bloodlust. You are nothing without it, it is in your nature; you crave it, dream of it; it is how he raised to you be."

Gamora grows angry at the statement, "You know nothing about me or my nature. I am more than what he wanted me to be!"

The woman merely laughs in her face, as Gamora finds herself face to face with the being. The lilac hand traces the ex-assassins face on the glass, the tips of the hand sharp claws, leaving small scratches in their wake.

"You can not deny your true nature." The prisoner whispers, "One way or another, you are the monster he wanted you to be. I can see your soul and it is black. "

Gamora slams her fist on the glass. The only thing stopping her from taking it further is the smug look of the woman inside the cell. Reminding her too much of the tactics her siblings had used to get her to fight them when they were younger.

With a couple of centring breaths, Gamora backs away from the glass, keeping her eyes locked with the prisoner all the way to the exit.

As the door slides shut in front of her, the prisoners laugh echos through the room.

Gamora really regrets taking this mission.


End file.
